1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an access multiplexer system for performing a stateless auto-configuration process for use in a network and comprising an access multiplexer for receiving a discovery message from a source, which discovery message comprises a multicast destination address defining a number of destinations.
2. Description of the Related Art
A prior art access multiplexer system is of common general knowledge. A discovery message is for example defined in RFC 2461 and 2462 and is used for requesting or allocating Internet Protocol addresses. The discovery message originates from a source, such as a customer premises equipment or a node respectively, and is destined for a number of destinations, such as nodes or customer premises equipments respectively. This number of destinations is defined by a multicast destination address forming part of a header of the discovery message. The access multiplexer system for performing a stateless auto-configuration process forms part of a network. In this network (such as for example an Internet Protocol Version 6 network), states of sources and destinations are not kept, contrary to a network in which a stateful auto-configuration process is performed (such as for example an other Internet Protocol Version 6 network or an Internet Protocol Version 4 network). Owing to the fact that the states are not kept in this kind of network, each discovery message must be sent to a relatively large number of destinations.
The known access multiplexer system is disadvantageous, inter alia, owing to the fact that the stateless auto-configuration process is relatively insecure in a shared and/or non-trusted network. A source must send each discovery message to a relatively large number of destinations, with only one destination being interested in this discovery message but with all the other destinations also receiving this discovery message.